Some of this and maybe a lot of this is a reflection of ourselves. By this I mean the values we collectively espouse and that come to be represented in media, politics, education including what is learned in business schools, etc. When nothing is enough and competition and winner take all view points are highly valued, well this is what we get.

Reason I say this is that it strikes me that perhaps this is a lot more about ourselves than anyone wants to admit.

[–] kugel7c@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

This culture/philosophy has been created over time and is called liberalism, it follows follows from the reformation (of the church) and feeds off support from capitalists(and political allies) themselves. This culture that upholds hard work as virtuous and discourages compassion is being taught to almost everyone even though it doesn't mesh with the real world all that well. Especially what is commonly believed to be the result of hard work is more often than not inheritance or sheer luck.

Yes we all propagate this culture nowadays, but it isn't actually part of humanity(in some human nature way) it's just very ingrained propaganda.Some mainland Chinese people might have a very different ingrained culture regarding these things.